It's time for me to take a spring blogging break. We've got a lot going on here and I don't anticipate having any writing time.
Have a good week!
With Love,
Christine
Have a good week!
With Love,
Christine
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Post Script on Roald Dahl, Author's Corner
My husband and I had a discussion today, and last night, about the nature of humour. It's surprisingly absent in the Bible, but at one point the Apostle Paul encourages people to avoid "coarse joking" (in the King James). Why we never see humour in the Bible is curious, but I don't think that means it can't be a vital part of a balanced life.
I don't want to offend anyone who holds a more conservative view of what constitutes appropriate humour, or what constitutes appropriate censorship in children's literature. I haven't read James and the Giant Peach yet, but last night in my research I learned it was censored in some schools because of the word "ass" and because of an "attitude of disrespect". I don't know how the word "ass" was used without reading the book. In any case, I would probably just mark it out with a pen in my copy. As far as the alleged disrespect goes, I would probably weigh whether it was directed at the antagonist or the protagonist, and decide from there.
My husband wisely pointed out that the Bible teaches us to respect positions of authority, meaning that if we don't like a particular president, or a child doesn't like a particular teacher, the position must still be respected, and thereby, the person holding it.
So then I wonder, is all rebellion against evil inherently bad? Without rebellion, can we progress as a society, or does might always make right?
What exactly is the nature of humour? Is it inherently irreverent, to some degree? I enjoy physical humour, for instance, and while I laugh at people slipping on bananas in old movies, I would never laugh if this happened to someone around me. I believe people, including school-age children, get the notion that we can't really behave this way. In the same way, I give school-age children credit for understanding that exaggerated characters, and the humorous way they're portrayed in stories, don't represent real life.
Humour comes from a certain point of view--from the outside looking in. If you've ever known outrageously funny people, you've probably noticed they have a hard time being serious--it's unnatural to them. In my view this isn't a flaw in their character, but a particular personality type. Might I suggest that God gave humour to us, through this personality type? We shouldn't abuse the gift of humour and engage in "coarse joking", but neither should we devalue it as another of God's graces, to get through hard times spent on a fallen earth.
If you take a more conservative view, I understand that and don't mean to devalue it. Our daily reality here, living with special needs and other issues, makes our need for humour great. As a result, my reading shelves may look different than yours.
I don't want to offend anyone who holds a more conservative view of what constitutes appropriate humour, or what constitutes appropriate censorship in children's literature. I haven't read James and the Giant Peach yet, but last night in my research I learned it was censored in some schools because of the word "ass" and because of an "attitude of disrespect". I don't know how the word "ass" was used without reading the book. In any case, I would probably just mark it out with a pen in my copy. As far as the alleged disrespect goes, I would probably weigh whether it was directed at the antagonist or the protagonist, and decide from there.
My husband wisely pointed out that the Bible teaches us to respect positions of authority, meaning that if we don't like a particular president, or a child doesn't like a particular teacher, the position must still be respected, and thereby, the person holding it.
So then I wonder, is all rebellion against evil inherently bad? Without rebellion, can we progress as a society, or does might always make right?
What exactly is the nature of humour? Is it inherently irreverent, to some degree? I enjoy physical humour, for instance, and while I laugh at people slipping on bananas in old movies, I would never laugh if this happened to someone around me. I believe people, including school-age children, get the notion that we can't really behave this way. In the same way, I give school-age children credit for understanding that exaggerated characters, and the humorous way they're portrayed in stories, don't represent real life.
Humour comes from a certain point of view--from the outside looking in. If you've ever known outrageously funny people, you've probably noticed they have a hard time being serious--it's unnatural to them. In my view this isn't a flaw in their character, but a particular personality type. Might I suggest that God gave humour to us, through this personality type? We shouldn't abuse the gift of humour and engage in "coarse joking", but neither should we devalue it as another of God's graces, to get through hard times spent on a fallen earth.
If you take a more conservative view, I understand that and don't mean to devalue it. Our daily reality here, living with special needs and other issues, makes our need for humour great. As a result, my reading shelves may look different than yours.
Author's Corner, Roald Dahl--laughter in literature
Our new read-aloud, which I asked you to name yesterday, is The BFG, by Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990), accelerated reader level 4.8 (fourth grade, eighth month).
Roald Dahl also wrote James and the Giant Peach, Boy, Danny the Champion of the World, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among many others.
His work, including James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was at times censored due to "undesirable" content; he is number 52 on the list of the 100 most censored books. There is a certain "us" against "them" theme to some of his books, in terms of pitting children against adults--the author siding with the children. Roald Dahl attended English boarding schools as a child, where he and his comrades were beaten and otherwise treated cruelly. These unfortunate school years lent a defiant flavour to his literary work.
You'll find a good adult versus a bad adult, as well, in his work. He believed that to interest and delight children, a writer needed to make the good characters very good, and the bad characters very bad. His exaggerated characters, not surprisingly, are a hit with children and adults alike. His work enjoys wide circulation today, well past his 1990 death.
While Dahl's James and the Giant Peach is required reading in many schools, his work hasn't received prestigious awards, I presume due to his bizarre sense of humour. Serious works of art dealing with the human condition earn awards, but humorous works are often undervalued. And why? It takes a unique, ingenious talent to make masses of people laugh, generation after generation. If we are to live balanced lives--and teach balance to our children--can we truly dwell only on serious content, however wonderful, however worthwhile we deem it? The Bronze Bow, which we just finished, truly is my second favorite book, but people, it was heavy, serious. We're deeper, smarter people for having read it, but my instinct as a person, as a mother, tells me now we must laugh! And laugh a lot--wholeheartedly.
When my family sits together laughing outrageously, I consider it a gift! Day to day life on this fallen earth is hard, and don't we need the reminder to hold everything loosely? To laugh at the days to come? I will always be grateful to artists who place high value on laughter--as a medicine, as a lifestyle.
Here are other hilarious excerpts from The BFG, (which stands for Big Friendly Giant)"
Here is the teaser from the back of my Puffin Book copy:
Roald Dahl also wrote James and the Giant Peach, Boy, Danny the Champion of the World, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among many others.
His work, including James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was at times censored due to "undesirable" content; he is number 52 on the list of the 100 most censored books. There is a certain "us" against "them" theme to some of his books, in terms of pitting children against adults--the author siding with the children. Roald Dahl attended English boarding schools as a child, where he and his comrades were beaten and otherwise treated cruelly. These unfortunate school years lent a defiant flavour to his literary work.
You'll find a good adult versus a bad adult, as well, in his work. He believed that to interest and delight children, a writer needed to make the good characters very good, and the bad characters very bad. His exaggerated characters, not surprisingly, are a hit with children and adults alike. His work enjoys wide circulation today, well past his 1990 death.
While Dahl's James and the Giant Peach is required reading in many schools, his work hasn't received prestigious awards, I presume due to his bizarre sense of humour. Serious works of art dealing with the human condition earn awards, but humorous works are often undervalued. And why? It takes a unique, ingenious talent to make masses of people laugh, generation after generation. If we are to live balanced lives--and teach balance to our children--can we truly dwell only on serious content, however wonderful, however worthwhile we deem it? The Bronze Bow, which we just finished, truly is my second favorite book, but people, it was heavy, serious. We're deeper, smarter people for having read it, but my instinct as a person, as a mother, tells me now we must laugh! And laugh a lot--wholeheartedly.
When my family sits together laughing outrageously, I consider it a gift! Day to day life on this fallen earth is hard, and don't we need the reminder to hold everything loosely? To laugh at the days to come? I will always be grateful to artists who place high value on laughter--as a medicine, as a lifestyle.
Here are other hilarious excerpts from The BFG, (which stands for Big Friendly Giant)"
"But if you don't eat people like all the others," Sophie said, "then what do you live on?"
"That is a squelching tricky problem around here," the BFG answered. "In this sloshflunking Giant Country, happy eats like pineapples and pigwinkles is simply not growing. Nothing is growing except for one extremely icky-poo vegetable. It is called the snozzcumber."
"The snozzcumber!" cried Sophie. "There's no such thing." (page 48)
"Here is the repulsant snozzcumber!" cried the BFG, waving it about. "I squoggle it! I mispise it! I dispunge it! But because I is refusing to gobble up human beans like the other giants, I must spend my life guzzling up icky-poo snozzcumbers instead. If I don't, I will be nothing but skin and groans." (page 50)
Here is the teaser from the back of my Puffin Book copy:
Just imagine suddenly knowing you may be eaten for breakfast in the very near future; dropped like a rasher of bacon into a frying pan sizzling with fat.
This is exactly what worries Sophie when she is snatched from her bed in the middle of the night by a giant with a stride as long as a tennis court. Luckily for Sophie, the BFG is far more jumbly than his disgusting neighbours, whose favourite pastime is guzzling and swallomping nice little childers. Sophie is determined to stop all this and so she and the BFG cook up an ingenious plan to rid the world of troggle-humping, bogthumping giants for ever!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Name That Novel
My boys and I finished Elizabeth George Speare's The Bronze Bow, finally. We couldn't read it every night for various reasons, and sometimes we needed to read the Bible together instead, when our daytime Bible reading ran short.
The Bronze Bow is my second favorite book of all time, behind Little Women. It's pure literary genius! The boys got an in depth look into the history of Jesus' time, as well as a deeper understanding of the works of grace Jesus performs in the human heart.
It was a little mature for my Paul, age 7, but he still gleaned a lot from it.
Since the book was so serious, we've moved on to lighter fare. Can you guess the title of this next novel, penned in 1982? I've included an excerpt below.
The Bronze Bow is my second favorite book of all time, behind Little Women. It's pure literary genius! The boys got an in depth look into the history of Jesus' time, as well as a deeper understanding of the works of grace Jesus performs in the human heart.
It was a little mature for my Paul, age 7, but he still gleaned a lot from it.
Since the book was so serious, we've moved on to lighter fare. Can you guess the title of this next novel, penned in 1982? I've included an excerpt below.
The human bean," the Giant went on, "is coming in dillions of different flavours. For instance, human beans from Wales is tasting very whooshey of fish. There is something very fishy about Wales."
"You mean whales," Sophie said. "Wales is something quite different."
"Wales is whales," the Giant said. "Don't gobblefunk around with words. I will now give you another example. Human beans from Jersey has a most disgustable wooly tickle on the tongue," the Giant said. "Human beans from Jersey is tasting of cardigans."
"You mean jerseys," Sophie said.
"You are once again gobblefunking!" The Giant shouted. "Don't do it! This is a serious and snitching subject. May I continue?"
"Please do," Sophie said.
"Danes from Denmark is tasting ever so much of dogs," the Giant went on.
"Of course," Sophie said. "They taste of great danes."
"Wrong!" cried the Giant, slapping his thigh. "Danes from Denmark is tasting doggy because they is tasting of labradors!"
"Then what do the people of Labrador taste of?" Sophie asked.
"Danes," the Giant cried, triumphantly. "Great danes!"
Monday, May 2, 2011
don't be silent; sing His praise
Psalm 30:12
That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Sunday Gratitude List:
* little girls in the loveliest feminine dresses for church, complete with white sweater, white tights, and new white flats. They don't always deck out so, but it makes them so excited when they do! I try to memorize every giggle, every twirling spin, every delicate little-girl feature.
(I read on Simple Mom's blogging tips last week that I'm not supposed to write with exclamation points, unless it's my general style of writing. Sorry, friends. I guess it is--at least when it comes to my children. They excite me!!)
* a freshly mowed lawn
* white-crowned sparrows coming to the feeders and delighting my Peter
* all natural vanilla bean chocolate mint ice cream
* Peter picking tulips and putting them in a vase for Momma
* freshly laundered sheets
* baby soft cheeks to kiss
* a strong husband to hug
* a litter soda bottle over the plexiglass feeder, solving our squirrel problems
* Peter feeding the squirrels dried corn cobs, to keep them happy
* Barilla PLUS multigrain elbow pasta (no mess involved when two year olds eat this with spaghetti sauce, and it takes great.)
* little girls giggling in the tub
* sisters kissing and hugging
* sisters playing with dolls (not an everyday thing around here)
* big boys saying I love you
* I've been collecting skirts for myself from thrift stores for about a year, after growing to hate the jeans, jeans, jeans mother-at-home uniform. I like being a woman! I've worn jeans all this time only because they make mothering easier, and it's cheap to find tops that match. It has been difficult to find new-looking coordinating tops for my skirt collection, but I've made progress on my last two thrifting trips. I can now wear skirts at least three times a week, and still comfortably mother and do chores.
I picked out skirts that looked brand new, were machine washable and didn't need ironing. I wear flat shoes at home, but sometimes change to slightly healed shoes to do errands. I wear nylons or tights if it's cold, or paint my toes and wear black or brown sandals if it's warm. I've collected:
- 2 long jean skirts (different styles)
- 1 knee-length jean skirt (I don't wear the knee-length if I'm going some place to sit down, like someone's house or to church, because knee-length skirts aren't very modest once you sit down. But grocery shopping in it or mothering in it are fine. My husband likes it.
- 2 below-the-knee flowing polyester skirts with black background and lots of pretty flowers (solid black tops or short-sleeved black sweaters coordinate with these, because the flowers provide so much color). When the weather turns quite humid, I'll abandon all polyester, except for church.
- 1 light-weight cotton broomstick skirt in various shades of green (I finally had to break down and buy a white, short-sleeved sweater top for $7 at Walmart to go with this one. I couldn't find anything at thrift stores after looking for a year.)
- 1 dressy below-the-knee rayon/spandex/polyester blend skirt in black for church
* Last night Peter spilled a quart of lemonade all over himself, all over me, the counter, the dishwasher, and the floor, just as I was about to prepare dinner. It delayed me twenty-five minutes because the clean up was so extensive. As I was down on the floor cleaning, I noticed that all the appliances needed a good Windexing, the baseboards needed a good wiping, and the inside of the dishwasher needed a good cleaning. I was immediately downcast about the messiness--wanting to sob really--but then the Holy Spirit put a picture in my head.
I imagined an immaculate home with all deep cleaning caught up--walls, baseboards, appliances, windows, blinds, ceilings--but it was devoid of children, of laughter, of plentiful hugs, of children's books, of children's paintings and drawings. Suddenly, I stopped wishing I had time for deep cleaning. And I gulped down tears, thanking the Lord for my four wonderful blessings! Shame on me for caring about deep cleaning when abundant blessings--the best kind of blessings--flowed around me.
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